Category Archives: Entries

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

It’s been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and arcane rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father dies. An architect as cruel as he was revered, his death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revel.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Parental infidelity mentioned
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Nightmares & sleep issues mentioned
  • Pica mentioned (recovery)
  • Attempted suicide & self-harm recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father from a stroke & heart attack mentioned
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Drowning
  • Cults discussed
  • Animal injury (fish

We Shall Be Monsters by Tara Sim

After her sister Lasya’s sudden death, Kajal vows to do whatever it takes to bring her back. No cost is too great, even if it means preventing Lasya’s soul from joining the cycle of reincarnation. But as Kajal prepares for the resurrection, her sister’s trapped soul warps into a bhuta—a violent, wraith-like spirit hell-bent on murdering those who wronged it in life. With each kill, the bhuta becomes stronger and fiercer, and Kajal’s chances of resurrecting Lasya with her soul intact grow slimmer. Blamed for Lasya’s rampage and condemned as a witch, Kajal is locked away with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death & resurrection of a sister (theme)
  • Death of parents
  • Murder, knife violence & torture
  • War themes

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim

Clock mechanic Danny Hart knows he’s being watched. But by whom, or what, remains a mystery. To make matters worse, clock towers have begun falling in India, though time hasn’t Stopped yet. He’d hoped after reuniting with his father and exploring his relationship with Colton, he’d have some time to settle into his new life. Instead, he’s asked to investigate the attacks. After inspecting some of the fallen Indian towers, he realizes the British occupation may be sparking more than just attacks. And as Danny and Colton unravel… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & ableism
  • Parent in psychiatric care
  • Death of a father mentioned
  • Murder & torture
  • Explosion
  • Police brutality mentioned
  • Attempted kidnapping
  • Plane crash (airship)
  • Animal cruelty

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir. But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying. Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light—will sacrifice everything… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies, decapitation & cannibalism
  • Murder

You Can Run by Karen Cleveland

We have your son. It’s the call that’s every parent’s nightmare. And for CIA analyst Jill Bailey, it’s the call that changes everything. It’s Jill’s job to vet new CIA sources. Like Falcon, who’s been on the recruitment fast track. But before she can get to work, Jill gets the call. Her son has been taken. And to get him back, Jill does something she thought she’d never do. Alex Charles, a hard-hitting journalist, begins to investigate an anonymous tip: an explosive claim about the CIA’s hottest new source. This is the story that Alex has been waiting for. The tip–and a fierce determi… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Kidnapping of children

Love Letters for Other People by Shaylin Gandhi

When mathematician Aubrey MacLean’s career implodes, she has no choice but to return to her rural Indiana hometown, at least temporarily. But small towns have long memories, and so does she, especially when it comes to Nick Thacker, the boy who broke her heart. Nick’s life is routine: long shifts at the steel mill, plus a side business writing love letters for other people. It’s enough to numb his regrets—until his first love returns, stirring up a past he thought he’d buried. Aubrey is focused on rebuilding her career, until she falls for a new man whose love letters feel… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child neglet
  • Parental infidelity
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Financial difficulties & food insecurity

When We Had Forever by Shaylin Gandhi

Six months after her husband died in a car crash, Mina Drake is still mired in a haze of grief. Reminders of her years with Michael are everywhere, but beneath her heartache lies an even more painful emotion. It’s a guilty suspicion she can hardly admit to anyone, even herself—that her marriage was over long before Michael’s accident. They were good together once, she’s sure of it, sharing a connection so deep that Mina can’t understand how it unraveled. That is, until a chance discovery in her husband’s office—and the reappearance of Michael’s estranged… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcoholism recovery
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a husband in a car accident recounted

The Extra by Megan Walker and Janci Patterson

Gabby Mays wishes she had her future figured out, like her gorgeous roommate Anna-Marie, who has just landed a role on the hit soap opera Passion Medical. Gabby would give anything to find a career she’s half as passionate about as Anna-Marie is about acting—and a love life that isn’t comprised of nights with a party-sized bag of Doritos and her Netflix account. When Gabby becomes a recurring extra on Passion Medical, she finds a job she’s surprisingly great at. Even better, her old crush and ex-boss—the sexy, sweet Will Bowen—is writing the scripts, allowing Gabby lots… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Substance addiction
  • Bullying

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Kipling’s epic rendition of the imperial experience in India is also his greatest long work. Two men – Kim, a boy growing into early manhood, and the lama, an old ascetic priest – are fired by a quest. Kim is white, although born in India. While he wants to play the Great Game of imperialism, he is also spiritually bound to the lama and he tries to reconcile these opposing strands. A celebration of their friendship in an often hostile environment, Kim captures the opulence of India’s exotic landscape, overlaid by the uneasy presence of the British Raj.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Recreational drug use
  • Blood depiction
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • War themes

The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson

Turner Falls is a small tourist town nestled in the hills of western Oregon, the kind of town you escape to for a vacation. When an inexplicable outbreak rapidly develops, this idyllic town becomes the epicenter of an epidemic of violence as the teenaged children of several executives from the local biotech firm become ill and aggressively murderous. Suddenly the town is on edge, and Lucy and her friends must do everything it takes just to fight through the night.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Child neglect
  • Suicide
  • Alcoholism
  • Drug use
  • Car accident (on-page)
  • Graphic animal death & animal abuse
  • Bullying